SAN FRANCISCO –– A California appellate court has reversed a nonsuit order entered in favor of an asbestos defendant in a colon cancer case, concluding that the exclusion of the plaintiffs’ causation expert on which the nonsuit order was based was erroneous.

In the Aug. 14 order, the California First Appellate District Court of Appeal, Division Three, found that the expert was qualified to testify and that his opinions were not speculative or unsupported.

The plaintiffs –- Dolores Duty and her three children –– brought the claims on behalf of William Duty, whom they alleged developed colon cancer as ...